As for what I have ſaid concerning their Propagation, I cannot be ſo poſitive; but the other Thing, namely, that they have Plants and Animals, I think I have fully proved, viz. from hence, that otherwiſe they would be inferiour to our Earth. And by the ſame Argument, they muſt have as great a Variety of both as we have. What this is, will be beſt known to him that conſiders the different Ways our Animals make uſe of in moving from one Place to another. Which may be reduc’d, I think, to theſe, either that they walk upon two Feet or Four; or like Inſects, upon Six, nay ſometimes Hundreds; or that they fly in the Air bearing up, and wonderfully ſteering themſelves with their Wings; or creep upon the Ground without Feet; or by a violent Spring in their Bodies, or paddling with their Feet, cut themſelves a Way in the Waters. I don’t believe, nor can I conceive, that there ſhould be any other Way than theſe mentioned. The Animals then in the Planets muſt make uſe of one or more of theſe, like our amphibious Birds, [[33]]which can ſwim in Water as well as walk on Land, or fly in the Air; or like our Crocodiles and Sea-Horſes, muſt be Mongrels, between Land and Water. There can no other Method be imagined but one of theſe. For where is it poſſible for Animals to live, except upon ſuch a ſolid Body as our Earth, or a fluid one like the Water, or ſtill a more fluid one than that, ſuch as our Air is? The Air I confeſs may be much thicker and heavier than ours, and ſo, without any Diſadvantage to its Tranſparency, be fitter for the volatile Animals. There may alſo be many ſorts of Fluids ranged over one another in Rows as it were. The Sea perhaps may have ſuch a fluid lying on it, which tho’ ten times lighter than Water, may be a hundred Times heavier than Air; whoſe utmoſt Extent may not be ſo large as to cover the higher Places of their Earth. But there’s no Reaſon to ſuſpect or allow them this, ſince we have no ſuch Thing; and if we did, it would be of no Advantage to them, for that the former Ways of moving would not be hereby at all increas’d: [[34]]But when we come to meddle with the Shape of theſe Creatures, and conſider the incredible Variety that is even in thoſe of the different parts of this Earth, and that America has ſome which are no where elſe to be found, I muſt then confeſs that I think it beyond the Force of Imagination to arrive at any knowledge in the Matter, or reach to Probability concerning the Figures of theſe Planetary Animals. Altho’ conſidering theſe Ways of Motion we e’en now recounted, they may perhaps be no more different from ours than ours (thoſe of ours I mean that are moſt unlike) are from one another.
If a Man were admitted to a Survey of Jupiter or Venus, he would no doubt find as great a Number and Variety as he had at home. Let us then, that we may make as near a Gueſs at, and as reaſonable a Judgment of the Matter as we can, conſider the many Sorts, and the admirable Difference in the Shapes of our own Animals; running Great Variety of Animals in this Earth. over ſome of the Chief of them (for ’twould be tedious to ſet about a general Catalogue) that are notoriouſly [[35]]different from one another, either in the Figure or ſome peculiar Property belonging to them; as they belong to the Land, or the Water, or the Air. Among the Beaſts we may take notice of the great Diſtance between the Horſe, the Elephant, the Lion, the Stag, the Camel, the Hog, the Ape, the Porcupine, the Tortoiſe, the Cameleon: in the Water, of that between the Whale, and the Sea-Calf, the Skait, the Pike, the Eel, the Ink-Fiſh, the Pourcontrel, the Crocodile, the Flying-fiſh, the Cramp-fiſh, the Crab, the Oiſter, and the Purple-Fiſh: and among Birds, of that between the Eagle, the Oſtrich, the Peacock, the Swan, the Owl, and the Bat: and in Inſects, of that between the Ants, the Spider, the Fly, and the Butterfly; and of that Prodigy in their wonderful change from Worms. In this Roll I have paſs’d by the creeping Kind as one Sort, and skip’d over that vaſt Multitude of leſs different Animals that fill the intermediate Spaces. But be they never ſo many, there is no And no leſs in the Planets. reaſon to think that the Planets cannot match them. For tho’ we in vain gueſs [[36]]at the Figures of thoſe Creatures, yet we have diſcover’d ſomewhat of their manner of Life in general; and of their Senſes we ſhall ſpeak more by and by.
The ſame in Plants. The more conſiderable Differences in our Plants ought to be thought on, as well as the other. As in Trees, that between the Fir and the Oak, the Palm, the Vine, the Fig, and the Coco-Nut Tree, and that in the Indies, from whoſe Boughs new Roots ſpring, and grow downwards into the Earth. In Herbs, the Difference is notable between Graſs, Poppy, Colewort, Ivy, Pompions, and the Indian Fig with thick Leaves growing up without any Stalk, and Aloe. Between every one of which again there are many leſs differing Plants not taken notice of. Then the different Ways of raiſing them are remarkable, whether from Seeds, or Kernels, or Roots, or by grafting or inoculating them. And yet in all theſe, whether we conſider the Things themſelves, or the Ways of their Production, I make no doubt but that the Planetary Worlds have as wonderful a Variety as we. [[37]]
But ſtill the main and moſt agreeable Point of the Enquiry is behind, Rational Animals in the Planets. which is the placing ſome Spectators in theſe new Diſcoveries, to enjoy theſe Creatures we have planted them with, and to admire their Beauty and Variety. And among all, that have never ſo ſlightly meddled with theſe Matters, I don’t find any that have ſcrupled to allow them their Inhabitants: not Men perhaps like ours, but ſome Creatures or other endued with Reaſon. For all this Furniture and Beauty the Planets are ſtock’d with ſeem to have been made in vain, without any Deſign or End, unleſs there were ſome in them that might at the ſame time enjoy the Fruits, and adore the wiſe Creator of them. But this alone would be no prevailing Argument with me to allow them ſuch Creatures. For what if we ſhould ſay, that God made them for no other Deſign, but that he himſelf might ſee (not as we do ’tis true; but that he that made the Eye ſees, who can doubt?) and delight himſelf in the Contemplation of them? For was not [[38]]Man himſelf, and all that the whole World contains, made upon this very account? That which makes me of this Opinion, that thoſe Worlds are not without ſuch a Creature endued with Reaſon, is, that otherwiſe our Earth would have too much the Advantage of them, in being the only part of the Univerſe that could boaſt of ſuch a Creature ſo far above, not only Plants and Trees, but all Animals whatſoever: a Creature that has ſomething Divine in him, that knows, and underſtands, and remembers ſuch an innumerable number of Things; that deliberates, weighs and judges of the Truth: A Creature upon whoſe Account, and for whoſe Uſe, whatſoever the Earth brings forth ſeems to be provided. For every Thing here he converts to his own Ends. With the Trees, Stones, and Metals, he builds himſelf Houſes: the Birds and Fiſhes he ſuſtains himſelf with: and the Water and Winds he makes ſubſervient to his Navigation, as he doth the ſweet Smell and glorious Colours of the Flowers to his Delight. What can there be [[39]]in the Planets that can make up for its Defects in the want of ſo noble an Animal? If we ſhould allow Jupiter a greater Variety of other Creatures, more Trees, Herbs and Metals, all theſe would not advantage or dignify that Planet ſo much as that one Animal doth ours by the admirable Productions of his penetrating Wit. If I am miſtaken in this, I do not know when to truſt my Reaſon, and muſt allow my ſelf to be but a poor Judge in the true Eſtimate of Things.
Vices of Men no hindrance to their being the Glory of the Planet they inhabit. Nor let any one ſay here, that there’s ſo much Villany and Wickedneſs in Man that we have thus magnified, that it’s a reaſonable Doubt, whether he would not be ſo far from being the Glory and Ornament of the Planet that enjoys his Company, that he would be rather its Shame and Diſgrace. For firſt, the Vices that moſt Men are tainted with, are no hindrance, but that thoſe that follow the Dictates of true Reaſon, and obey the Rules of a rigid Virtue, are ſtill a Beauty and Ornament to the Place that has the Happineſs to harbour them. [[40]]Beſides, the Vices of Men themſelves are of excellent Uſe, and are not permitted and allowed in the World without wiſe Deſign. For ſince it has ſo pleaſed God to order the Earth, and every Thing in it as we ſee it is (for it’s abſurd to ſay it happen’d againſt his Will or Knowledge) we muſt not think that ſo great a Diverſity of Minds were placed in different Men to no End or Purpoſe: but that this mixture of bad Men with Good, and the Conſequents of ſuch a Mixture, as Misfortunes, Wars, Afflictions, Poverty, and the like, were permitted for this very good End, viz. the exerciſing our Wits, and ſharpening our Inventions; by forcing us to provide for our own neceſſary Defence againſt our Enemies. ’Tis to the Fear of Poverty and Miſery that we are beholden for all our Arts, and for that natural Knowledge which was the Product of laborious Induſtry; and which makes us that we cannot but admire the Power and Wiſdom of the Creator, which otherwiſe we might have paſſed by with the ſame indifference as Beaſts. And if Men [[41]]were to lead their whole Lives in an undiſturbed continual Peace, in no fear of Poverty, no danger of War, I doubt they would live little better than Brutes, without all knowledge or enjoyment of thoſe Advantages that make our Lives paſs on with Pleaſure and Profit. We ſhould want the wonderful Art of Writing, if its great Uſe and neceſſity in Commerce and War had not forced out the Invention. ’Tis to theſe we owe our Art of Sailing, our Art of Sowing, and moſt of thoſe Diſcoveries of which we are Maſters; and almoſt all the Secrets in experimental Knowledge. So that thoſe very Things on account of which the Faculty of Reaſon ſeems to have been accuſed, are no ſmall helps to its Advancement and Perfection. For thoſe Virtues themſelves, Fortitude and Conſtancy, would be of no uſe if there were no Dangers, no Adverſity, no Afflictions for their Exerciſe and Trial.
If we ſhould therefore imagine in the Planets ſome ſuch reaſonable Creature as Man is, adorn’d with the ſame [[42]]Virtues, and liable to the ſame Vices, it would be ſo far from degrading or vilifying them, that while they want ſuch a one, I muſt think them inferior to our Earth.
Reaſon they are not different from what ’tis here. But if we allow theſe Planetary Inhabitants ſome ſort of Reaſon, muſt it needs, may ſome ſay, be the ſame with ours? Certainly it muſt, whether we conſider it as applied to Juſtice and Morality, or exerciſed in the Principles and Foundations of Science. For Reaſon with us is that which gives us a true Senſe of Juſtice and Honeſty, Praiſe, Kindneſs and Gratitude: ’tis That that teaches us to diſtinguiſh univerſally between Good and Bad; and renders us capable of Knowledge and Experience in it. And can there be any where any other Sort of Reaſon than this? or can what we call juſt and generous, in Jupiter or Mars be thought unjuſt Villany? This is not at all, I don’t ſay probable, but poſſible. For the Aim and Deſign of the Creator is every where the Preſervation and Safety of his Creatures. Now when ſuch Reaſon as we are Maſters [[43]]of, is neceſſary for the preſervation of Life, and promoting of Society (a thing that they are not without, as we ſhall ſhow) would it not be ſtrange that the Planetary Inhabitants ſhould have ſuch a perverſe Sort of Reaſon given them, as would neceſſarily deſtroy and confound what it was deſign’d to maintain and defend? But allowing Morality and Paſſions with thoſe diſtant Inhabitants to be ſomewhat different from ours, and ſuppoſing they may act by other Principles in what belongs to Friendſhip and Anger, Hatred, Honeſty, Modeſty, and Comelineſs, yet ſtill there would be no doubt, but that in the Search after Truth, in judging of the Conſequences of Things, in Reaſoning, particularly in that Sort which belongs to Magnitude or Quantity, about which their Geometry (if they have ſuch a Thing) is employ’d, there would be no doubt, I ſay, but that their Reaſon here muſt be exactly the ſame, and go the ſame way to work with ours, and that what’s true in one part will hold true over the whole Univerſe; ſo that all the difference [[44]]muſt lie in the Degrees of Knowledge, which will be proportional to the Genius and Capacity of the Inhabitants.
They have Senſes. But I perceive I am got ſomewhat too far: Let us firſt enquire a little concerning the bodily Senſes of theſe Planetary Perſons; for without ſuch, neither will Life be any Pleaſure to them, nor Reaſon of any Uſe. And I think it very probable, that all their Animals, as well their Beaſts as rational Creatures, are like ours in all that relates to the Senſes: For without the Power of Seeing we ſhould find it impoſſible for Animals to provide Food for themſelves, or be ſore-warn’d of any approaching Danger, ſo as to guard themſelves from it. So that where-ever we plant any Animals, except we wou’d have them lead the Life of Worms or Moles, we muſt allow them Sight; than which nothing can conduce more either to the Preſervation or Pleaſure of their Lives. Then if we conſider the wonderful Nature of Light, and the Sight. amazing Artifice in the fit framing the Eye for the Reception of it, we cannot [[45]]but ſee that Bodies ſo vaſtly remote could not be perceived by us in their proper Figures and juſt Diſtances, any other way than by Sight. For this Senſe, and all others that we know of, muſt proceed from an external Motion. Which in the ſenſe of Seeing muſt come either from the Sun, the fix’d Stars, or Fire: whoſe Particles being put into a very quick Motion, communicate it to the Celeſtial Matter about, whence ’tis convey’d in a very ſhort time to the moſt diſtant parts, juſt like Sound through the Air. If it were not for this Motion of the intermediate Ætherial Matter, we ſhould be all in Darkneſs, and have Sight neither of Sun nor Stars, nor any thing elſe, for all other Light muſt come to us by Reflection from them. This Motion perceived by the Eyes is called Light. And the nice Curioſity of this Perception is admirable, in that it is cauſed by the ſmalleſt Particles of the luminous Body brought to us by that fine Matter, which at the ſame time determine the Coaſt from whence the Motion comes; and in that all theſe different Roads of [[46]]Motion, theſe Waves croſſing and interfering with one another, are yet no hindrance to every one’s free Paſſage. All theſe Things are ſo wiſely, ſo wonderfully contrived, that it’s above the Power of humane Wit, to invent or frame any thing like them; nay, it is very difficult ſo much as to imagine and comprehend them. For what can be more amazing, than that one ſmall Part of the Body ſhould be ſo deviſed and framed, as by its means to ſhow us the Shape, the Poſition, the Diſtance, and all the Motions, nay, and all the Colours, of a Body that is far remote from us, that it may appear the more diſtinct? And then the artful Compoſition of the Eye, drawing an exact Picture of the Objects without it, upon the concave Side of the Choroides, is even above all Admiration, nor is there any Thing in which God has more plainly manifeſted his excellent Geometry. And theſe Things are not only contriv’d and fram’d with ſo great Wiſdom and Skill, as not to admit of better, but to any one that conſiders them attentively, they ſeem to be of ſuch a Nature [[47]]as not to allow any other Method. For it’s impoſſible that Light ſhould repreſent Objects to us at ſo vaſt a diſtance, except by ſuch an intervening Motion; and it’s as impoſſible that any other Compoſition of the Eye ſhould be equally fitted to the Reception of ſuch Impreſſions. So that I cannot but think them greatly miſtaken, that maintain theſe Things might have been contrived many other Ways. It’s likely then, and credible, that in theſe Things the Planets have an exact correſpondence with us, and that their Animals have the ſame Organs, and uſe the ſame way of Sight that we do. They muſt have Eyes therefore, and two at leaſt we muſt grant them, otherwiſe they would not perceive thoſe Things cloſe to them, nor hardly be able to walk about with Safety. And if we muſt allow them to all Animals for the Preſervation of their Life, how much more muſt they that make more, and more noble Uſes of them, not be deprived of the Bleſſing of ſo advantageous Members? For by them we view the various Flowers, and the elegant Features of Beauty: with [[48]]them we read, we write, we contemplate the Heavens and Stars, and meaſure their Diſtances, Magnitudes, and Journeys: which how far they are common to the Inhabitants of thoſe Worlds with us, I ſhall preſently examine. But firſt I ſhall enquire whether now we have given them one, we ought alſo to give them the other Hearing. four Senſes. And indeed as to Hearing many Arguments perſwade me to give it a Share in the Animals of thoſe new Worlds. For ’tis of great conſequence in defending us from ſudden Accidents; and, eſpecially when Seeing is of no uſe to us, it ſupplies its Place, and gives us ſeaſonable warning of any imminent Danger. Beſides, we ſee many Animals call their Fellow to them with their Voice, which Language may have more in it than we are aware of, tho’ we don’t underſtand it. But if we do but conſider the vaſt Uſes and neceſſary Occaſions of Speaking on the one ſide, and Hearing on the other, among thoſe Creatures that make uſe of their Reaſon, it will ſcarce ſeem credible that two ſuch uſeful, ſuch [[49]]excellent Things were deſigned only for us. For how is it poſſible but that they that are without theſe, muſt be without many other Neceſſaries and Conveniences of Life? Or what can they have to recompenſe this Want? Then, if we go ſtill farther, and do but meditate upon the neat and frugal Contrivance of Nature in making the ſame Air, by the drawing in of which we live, by whoſe Motion we ſail, and by whoſe Means Birds fly, for a Conveyance of Sound to our Ears; and this Sound for the Conveyance of another Man’s Thoughts to our Minds: Can we ever imagine that ſhe has left thoſe other Worlds deſtitute of ſo vaſt A Medium to convey Sound to the Ears. Advantages? That they don’t want the Means of them is certain, for their having Clouds in Jupiter puts it paſt doubt that they have Air too; that being moſtly formed of the Particles of Water flying about, as the Clouds are of them gathered into ſmall Drops. And another Proof of it is, the neceſſity of breathing for the preſervation of Life, a Thing that ſeems to be as univerſal a Dictate of Nature, as feeding upon the Fruits of the Earth. [[50]]
Touch. As for Feeling, it ſeems to be given upon neceſſity to all Creatures that are cover’d with a fine and ſenſible Skin, as a Caution againſt coming too near thoſe Things that may injure or incommode them: and without it they would be liable to continual Wounds, Blows and Bruiſes. Nature ſeems to have been ſo ſenſible of this, that ſhe has not left the leaſt place free from ſuch a Perception. Therefore it’s probable that the Inhabitants of thoſe Worlds are not without ſo neceſſary a Defence, and ſo fit a Preſervative againſt Dangers and Miſhaps.
Smell and Taſte. And who is there that doth not ſee the inevitable neceſſity for all Creatures that live by feeding to have both Taſte and Smell, that they may diſtinguiſh thoſe Things that are good and nouriſhing, from thoſe that are miſchievous and harmful? If therefore we allow the Planetary Creatures to feed upon Herbs, Seeds, or Fleſh, we muſt allow them Taſte and Smell, that they may chuſe or refuſe any Thing according as they find it likely to be advantageous or noxious to them. [[51]]